When Willow Stone finds the words “Clifford Island” scrawled on her deceased son’s floor, she wonders why he would write this. She’s never heard of the small island off Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula. Seeking answers, she decides to pay the island a visit.
There, she learns the island isn’t normal. For starters, everyone seems to be stuck in a particular day in 1994. Their clothing is outdated, they avoid modern tech, and strangely, watch the OJ Simpson Bronco chase every night on TV. Everyone is evasive, and the only thing she knows is to make sure your curtains are closed at night.
Lily Becker has lived on Clifford her entire life, and she’s grown tired of the island’s weird mythology and adhering to all the rules. She’s been to the mainland where everyone is normal. Why is Clifford so backwards? She thinks the beliefs on Clifford are a total sham, but are they?
It’s been five weeks since Harper, Willow’s brother, has heard from Willow. When he arrives on Clifford searching for her, he begins to learn the truth about the strange island, and that truth is far more twisted than anyone could have ever imagined. Harper’s going to blow the whole thing open, if he can make it out alive.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Dead Eleven is the debut novel from Jimmy Juliano. Juliano’s short-fiction has been featured on the NoSleep subreddit, The NoSleep Podcast, and the NoSleep Live Tour. With his first novel, Juliano presents a horrifying mystery on a strange island stuck in the 1990s … if you can get out alive, you just might escape the past. Richard Chizmar (Chasing the Boogeyman) says: “Dead Eleven is a strikingly original treasure chest of horror, suspense and nostalgia. I’ve never read anything like it. Jimmy Juliano is a first-rate storyteller. I was spellbound from the opening page.”, and Nick Cutter (The Troop, The Breach) says: “I could tell you that Jimmy Juliano ripped a hole in my head and dumped in a gallon of nightmare juice, but that would be underselling all this book’s got to offer. Dead Eleven is a work of uncommon craft, mood, and above all, heart. If an author doesn’t make you care about their characters, a reader won’t care what becomes of them. And man, this book will make you care.”
Forthcoming from Dutton 27 June 2023, Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA